Astonishing dossier shows calls for Chinook helicopters to be grounded the same day as tragic 1994 crash

A senior RAF officer called for Chinook helicopters to be grounded on the very day that one aircraft crashed on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994, killing all 29 people on board, a leaked memo reveals.

The astonishing document is part of a dossier of evidence presented to the Ministry of Defence by campaigners fighting to clear the names of the two RAF Special Forces pilots who are still officially blamed for the mysterious tragedy.

Jonathan Tapper and Richard Cook were initially cleared by the crash investigation and Board of Inquiry which found insufficient to explain why the helicopter crashed into a fog-bound Scottish hillside, while carrying 25 of Britain's top intelligence experts on the IRA to a secret conference.

Scapegoats: The two pilots of the Chinook helicopter are officially blamed for the 1994 crash despite a lac of clear evidence

But senior RAF commanders later substituted a finding of 'gross negligence' - effectively a posthumous manslaughter conviction against the pilots - despite the lack of clear evidence and serious safety concerns at the time over recent upgrades to the Chinook's computerised controls.

The disaster wiped out the cream of Britain's counter-terrorism community, and campaigners believe the RAF's embarrassment distorted the official verdict and left the pilots as scapegoats.

The memo uncovered by Channel 4 News was written by the officer in charge of military helicopter flight testing at Boscombe Down, where the upgraded Chinook HC2 was being assessed.

He set out serious concerns over the new helicopter's and called for all upgraded Chinooks to be grounded pending more tests.

The memo was written on June 2, 1994 - the very day of the tragic crash.

Dr Michael Powers QC, who wrote the dossier submitted to the Ministry of Defence, said the document was hugely significant, adding: 'It tells us that the very people who were charged with seeing if the modifications to the Chinook which had recently been made were safe or not concluded that they weren’t, and that further testing needed to be done before they were put into operational service by the RAF.'

Despite the findings Defence Secretary John Hutton is expected to rule out clearing the pilots of blame, and his official response will dismiss the dossier as irrelevant.

In a statement last night the MOD said: 'We have carefully reviewed the report prepared by Lord O’Neill and Dr Michael Powers QC on behalf of the Mull of Kintyre Campaign Group.

'The issues it highlights have been raised before and it presents no new evidence that would call into question the findings of the Board of Inquiry (BOI).

'There is therefore no reason to contradict the BOI or to grant a further review into this tragic accident.'

Share or comment on this article:

Astonishing dossier shows calls for Chinook helicopters to be grounded the same day as tragic 1994 crash